Jude 1:1-2 meaning

Jude, the servant and half-brother of Jesus, greets his readers, who are also believers in Jesus, loved by God the Father, called to live a life of faith. Jude extends a blessing of mercy, peace, and love to his audience.

Jude initiates his letter with a self-identification, highlighting his relationship to Jesus Christ as a bond-servant. The Greek word “doulos” translated as bond-servant indicates that Jude’s self-identity is as a person whose purpose is to serve Jesus as his master.

Jude also identifies as a brother of James. This reflects his familial lineage, aligning him with another prominent figure in the early church. James here is traditionally considered to be James the Just, the half-brother of Jesus.

At the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15, James spoke on behalf of the elders of the Jerusalem church, which was made up of Jews who had believed that Jesus is the Christ (Acts 15:6, 15). James is also inferred to be the head elder of the Jerusalem church when Paul visits Jerusalem toward the end of the book of Acts (Acts 21:17-18). This makes James a highly prominent figure in the believing world, which might add to the authority of Jude’s letter.

James was also called the brother of Jesus sharing a mother, but not a father (Matthew 13:55). That made James a half-brother, given that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). Since Jude is a brother of James, this also means that Jude is a half-brother of Jesus as well. It is likely that he is referenced in Matthew 13:55 as Judas.

That Jude names himself as a brother of James, but not as a brother of Jesus, reinforces his status as a bond-servant to Jesus. This is significant since Jesus’s brothers did not initially believe in Him (John 7:5). This is a substantial proof of the truth of the resurrection of Jesus, that His own family members who did not initially believe came to faith and made themselves bond-servants to Jesus.

Jude’s address then pivots to the recipients—those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ (v 1). This asserts that Jude’s letter is written to believers in Jesus Christ. This letter then is intended to disciple and grow these believers, and is not intended primarily as an instrument of evangelism.

The phrase beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ aptly describes those who have believed on Jesus. Each person who believes on Jesus is born again into God’s family (John 3:3). The faith required for this new birth is the faith required to look upon Jesus, hoping to be healed of the poisonous venom of sin (John 3:14-15).

The called recipients of this letter are beloved in God the Father. This indicates that the recipients are fellow believers in Jesus. Through believing in Jesus, they have been placed into His body as new creations in Christ, and are therefore beloved by God, being in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Each person who believes in Jesus is kept for Jesus Christ because they are in Christ, having been baptized into His death (Romans 6:3). As a result, each believer in Jesus is placed into God’s forever family; God will never deny His children, because to do so would be to deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13).

Jude’s salutation in verse 2, May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you, is full of words common to blessings given in church letters. Mercy translates the Greek word “eleos.” Jesus stated that “eleos” (mercy) is one of the “weightier provisions of the law” (Matthew 23:23). It is an attribute of God (Matthew 9:13) that Jude wishes would fall upon the letter’s recipients.

Since Jude is Jewish, the term peace likely refers to the Hebrew idea of “shalom” which refers to all things working in harmony with God’s (good) design. The word love translates the Greek word “agape” which refers to the love of choice. God does not love humans because they are lovable—He loves us because He chooses to (John 3:16).

The phrase be multiplied to you referring to mercy, peace, and love can also be translated “be increased in you” or “be yours in abundance.” The idea is that Jude desires that these divine attributes be displayed in and through the lives of these people he is addressing. In this they will be both blessed as well as a blessing.

Biblical Text

1 Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: 2 May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

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Additional Resources

Book Theme

Jude, the servant and half-brother of Jesus (and the full brother of James, who wrote the epistle of James and was an elder of the Jerusalem church), greets his readers, who are also believers in Jesus, loved by God the Father, called to live a life of faith. Jude extends a blessing of mercy, peace, and love to his audience.

Jude felt this letter was necessary to write to encourage his readers to fight for the faith. There are certain unnamed false teachers who have come into their assembly who are using God’s forgiveness as an excuse to sin and to reject Jesus as Lord.

Jude appeals to examples from the Old Testament as proof to what he is writing about. God saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, but He did not allow the unbelieving Israelites to receive the reward of the Promise Land. Likewise, He punished demons by chaining them in darkness until the Judgment at the end of time. Further, He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their sinfulness. These are each examples that God judges sin, disobedience, and faithlessness.

Just as the examples of sin and faithlessness previously described, the men who are corrupting Jude’s readers will be judged by God. The false teachers will be punished for their deceptions, and to follow them will only lead to loss of reward and fellowship with God.

Jude quotes a prophecy from Enoch, detailing how God will judge the ungodly for their sinful deeds. Sins like grumbling, fault-finding, acting upon lust, arrogance, manipulating people to gain power over them—God will punish such behaviors.

Bearing in mind that God will punish sin, Jude urges his readers to remember what the apostles teach. It is not unexpected that mocking, lustful men will come to cause divisions in the church. This is something the apostles have warned about. But believers can stand firm in the faith, pray under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and thus can maintain their fellowship with God. In doing so, believers can help other stumbling believers avoid losing their rewards and right themselves in their faith-walk with God.

Jude praises God, for it is God who can keep us from falling away from His fellowship, so that we can stand before Him one day without blame and with deep happiness, rather than shame. It is God who has saved us, through His Son Jesus. He deserves all glory forever, He is sovereign over all things throughout all of time. This we believe is so.